"Paul's Neck"

In honor of National Poetry Month, I will be posting work by myself each Friday. I wrote this poem forty years ago when we were still struggling for rights and visibility was crucial. After a period where things seemed to progress, we now find ourselves back in danger, struggling to retain rights that can be taken from us, struggling to avoid damage and violence...

Paul's Neck

Trained over five summers
at football camp,
your neck is hard and thick
like a side of beef.
My love for you
is visceral.
I can eat it
like raw meat.

Your Daddy’s rich
and your Ma’s good lookin’
and some day they’ll
speak to you again
but until then,
I wouldn’t cry.

One of these mornings,
we’re gonna rise up
singing the same song
and it will be louder than
any church organ,
louder than any
protest march.
How dare they say
our love is wrong
when your neck is
the kindest,
the saddest
of all.

©JEF 1986